Seymour Hear More Hum

Chabenda

I need some advice please! My beloved Strat is a ailin'!!

I have an old Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder in the bridge position. All of a sudden it has started making a terrible, loud hum if my hand makes contact with it in any way. Just touching the fibre gets it going. When used in conjunction with the center or front pick up the noise is not noticeable.

Does this mean that the insulation has gone? If it is knackered can I find a replacement is SA and does anyone know how much it will cost.

AlanRatcliffe

More likely to be a solder joint than anything else - specifically check the earth connection (black wire) where it connects to the back of the volume pot and on the other side on the eyelet of the pickup. If it's just the one pickup giving grief, it'll likely be that - if more pickups are involved, look at the earth further down the line too).

Norman86

And if it does need replacing, rather source that pickup from the states.
Likely to be less than $100 for it.

in SA though, the places charge over R2000 per SD pickup. Madness i tell you!

http://www.zzounds.com/item--SEMSSL4
jip, less than $60USD.

Chabenda

Alan Ratcliffe wrote More likely to be a solder joint than anything else - specifically check the earth connection (black wire) where it connects to the back of the volume pot and on the other side on the eyelet of the pickup. If it's just the one pickup giving grief, it'll likely be that - if more pickups are involved, look at the earth further down the line too).

Thanks Alan, I'll give it a try!

AlanRatcliffe

Norman86 wrote in SA though, the places charge over R2000 per SD pickup. Madness i tell you!

Norman, once again your prices are way off. List price on the Quarter Pounder is R816. Where do you get your info?

aja

Alan Ratcliffe wrote
Norman86 wrote in SA though, the places charge over R2000 per SD pickup. Madness i tell you!
Norman, once again your prices are way off. List price on the Quarter Pounder is R816. Where do you get your info?

I am going to buy a neck and middle quarter pounder soon. I was quoted R1200 by music connection per pickup. I suppose that there may be some wiggle room in there but they would have to order it meaning that haggling is not so easy compared to off the shelf items.

I think Andy McGibbon used to charge in the region of R1k ea for them IIRC?

Chabenda

Thanks for your input guys. R1.2K doesn't seem too bad to me but that's probably because I'm used to being violated in Tete - even the vaseline has sand in it.

My guitar is now useless to me :'( . I have a practice tonight (not sure if it's a band or drinking practice) so will pull it to pieces tomorrow and go through the earth connections. Mine is a neck pickup that I have put in the bridge and it has really worked well. It has a thick creamy sound, almost like a humbucker but when used with the front or middle pickups sounds nice and clean. With a Tube Screamer and old valve amp it really sings.

I need to get a SD Vintage for my Jazzmaster bridge. I put one in the neck and it is fantastic. It has made the bridge pickup really suck though. Perhaps someone can point me in the right direction.

Regards,
Rich

AlanRatcliffe

I have the Duncan pricelist in front of me. There is a coil tapped version of the QP, which sells for R1,013. Aja - maybe that's what you were quoted on.

Until you look at the Custom Shop pickups like the Bonamassa, no single pickup goes over R2K. Most single-coils are well under R1K and even the Antiquity 'buckers are only R1800. Pearly Gates R1,195...

AlanRatcliffe

BTW - those are full retail prices, so you should be able to get a fair whack off them too. Chabenda, depending on what you find when you open her up, PM me if you do need a pickup and I'll help you organize one.

The Jazzmaster pickup will be a little more tricky - I suspect that will be a special order ex US.

aja

Alan Ratcliffe wrote I have the Duncan pricelist in front of me. There is a coil tapped version of the QP, which sells for R1,013. Aja - maybe that's what you were quoted on.

Yeah that's right, I am looking to buy the coil tapped one!

Maybe we could do a group buy again soon ?

Warren

Norman86 wrote
in SA though, the places charge over R2000 per SD pickup. Madness i tell you!

Agree with Alan re pricing: my last price back from MM in Woodmead quoted me around R800 per pickup for a Liquifire and Crunch Lab. I find local SD pricing very reasonable in-store, although sometimes availability is a problem.

EDIT: oops, the above are Dimarzio pickups /facepalm

Still I got pricing on a Pearly Gates for one of my other guitars and it was about R850 IIRC.

Chabenda

Many thanks indeed guys!!

Norman86

strange.. when i last enquired, and i'd rather not say where do to my prior experiences, but i was told that any SD pickup was around R2k per pickup. that was in august 2012!
again, the shops had no stock, and couldnt get, it would all be special order.

but having just called a few places, the 3 places i phoned, no one has stock. one says a weeks and there will be stock in SA, the other says 6 months. and they just quoted me R950 + -.

music shop 3 wroteunless i want it quicker and then air freight will be added too.

Chabenda

Well, I removed the pick guard, re-soldered all of the earth wiring, cleaned all of the pots with switch cleaner, cleaned the coke and beer off the inside of the scratch plate and re-fitted it. Sadly the problem remains. I suspect that due to local climatic conditions, with it being a rear pick up, it has been contaminated by sweat. I think the next test would be to connect another pick up in its place and test it again. Is it possible to test it with an ohm meter and see if it is "bleeding" to earth (?) What would I be looking for as far as readings go? Just touching the fiber makes it hum.

Chabenda

Dang! How many types of Quarter Pounder are there?? Mine has a sticker with 4R on it. Does that mean reverse wound - as it is arse about face. If I was to replace it does anyone know what I should order? Too many choices!

AlanRatcliffe

Yes you can measure the DC resistance. Disconnect one wire and measure. The flat pole version should read about 13.3K, while the staggered pole version is 14.8K. It can vary a bit from there, but too far off and you have a problem.

If you have rust on your polepieces, it's the biggest cause of failure in strat pups as the coil is wound directly onto the poles and rust abrades through the insulation on the wires, sometimes partly shorting them out, but also making the poles a bit "live".

AlanRatcliffe

The Quarter Pounder Flat pole is the SSL4 (hence the "4") and yes, I think R is RWRP (you can test easily with a magnet against the poles - see which pole attracts and which repels and then compare to your other pups).

Chabenda

Thanks Alan, does that mean that I would have continuity between the pole piece and the windings? Should/would there be continuity between the pole piece and windings? Sometimes these readings are so slight and confuse the heck out of me.

Regards,
Rich

tiller

The common problem of that or similar issue is wire connection ( in 90% ). The first where to start is to check all wires and the main ground connection. This usually goes first out of order. Had quite same problem with my Duncan Blackouts

AlanRatcliffe

Chabenda wrote Thanks Alan, does that mean that I would have continuity between the pole piece and the windings? Should/would there be continuity between the pole piece and windings?

You shouldn't have any at all, but quite often will with this kind of damage. Not always though - the rust itself is non-conductive.